Jupiter's Rings - Galileo

Mosaic of Jupiter's main ring

This is a mosaic of four images of Jupiters rings taken by the Galileo spacecraft through the clear filter.
The images were taken from a range of 2.3 million km while the spacecraft was in Jupiter's
shadow. They were taken from only 0.5 degrees above the ring plane and have a resolution of
about 92 km. The thin ring, extending from a radius of roughly 122,000 to 129,000 km, is
illuminated by scattered sunlight, indicating it is made of particles 1 micron or smaller in
size. Most of the ring visible here is the main ring. The gossamer ring is outside the main
ring and the lenticular halo inside. A faint mist of particles above and below the flat main
ring is thought to be caused by electromagnetic forces. The arc on the right side of the
image is Jupiter's limb, illuminated by sunlight scattered in Jupiter's upper atmosphere.
The frame is roughly 60,000 km across and north is up.
(Galileo, P-49746)
Larger image: 28 K jpg